Special Service and Features
Hon'ble Governor of Tamil Nadu inagurates Saksham-2022 campaign in Tamil Nadu
SAKSHAM 2020 – a month long Mass Awareness Campaign on Oil & Gas Conservation was inaugurated by Thiru R N Ravi, Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu in presence of Mr. P Jayadevan, Executive Director & State Head– IndianOil& State Level Coordinator for Oil Industry, Tamil Nadu & Puducherry, Mr. K. Sailendra, Executive Director , IndianOil & Regional Level Co-ordinator for Oil Industry, Southern Region, Mr. A M Santhosh Kumar, Chief Regional Co-ordinator, PCRA - Southern Region, Mr. Pushp Kumar Nayyar, Head , South – BPCL, Mr Sanjay Mathur, Zonal Head - South Zone, HPCL, Mr Rajiv Lochan Pal, Zonal General Manager, GAIL.
Mr. P Jayadevan delivered the welcome address and briefed on the Saksham initiatives of OMC’s including IndianOil in Tamil Nadu & Puducherry. The plan of activities under Saksham 2022 was presented by Mr. A M Santhosh Kumar, CRC-PCRA to the participants.
Inagurating the Saksham 2022 campaign in Chennai, Thiru. R N Ravi, Hon’ble Governor of Tamil Nadu in his address, said “We must remember that we owe a moral responsibility to our future generations to provide them a healthy environment and a sustainable future. I appeal to all of you to come together and contribute earnestly towards this mission of fuel conservation. Let SAKSHAM be a way of life and let us imbibe it in our culture so as to make this world a happy and Green place”.
Hon’ble Governor also inaugurated a Painting Exhibition at the venue, where the prize winning art works of school students on Saksham theme were displayed and he also flagged off the Saksham 2022 publicity Van from the venue, which would travel across Tamil Nadu & Puducherry disseminating the message of Fuel Conservation.
In order get the active involvement from students, spot quiz was conducted during the event. The questions were designed to sensitize the mind of participants about oil and gas conservation. In order to motivate them, prizes were given on-spot to the students who had answered the questions. A Thematic Cultural Treat was also performed by well-known team of performing artist.
The month long Campaign in Tamil Nadu included various events like Public Addresses &Panel Discussions, Auto Emission check, Bi-Cycle Day, Cyclothon, Debates, Free PUC Checks, Fuel Efficiency Drives, Group Talks, Hoardings / Digital Display of Conservation Messages, Cyclothons, Mega Training ,Pollution Checks, Publication of Articles and Conservation Messages, Quiz, Essay, Painting, Article writing and Debate competitions for school and college students, Cooking Without Fire contest, Technical Meet for Industry, Training for LPG delivery boys, Workshops for Engineering Students, etc.
The competitions would aim to raise awareness among the school students about practical conservation tips for the conservation of petroleum products in industrial, transport, agriculture and domestic sector, and how to practice such tips in their daily lives. PCRA and other oil companies would conduct various competitions across schools of Tamil Nadu for inculcating the habit of fuel conservation among the students.
Press Backgrounder on SAKSHAM 2022: Petroleum Conservation Research Association  is a registered society set up under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Government of India. As a non-profit organization, PCRA is a national government agency engaged in promoting energy efficiency in various sectors of economy. It helps the government in proposing policies and strategies for petroleum conservation, aimed at reducing excessive dependence of the country on oil requirement. Over the years, PCRA has enlarged its role in improving productivity in use of various sources of energy. PCRA aims at making oil conservation a national movement. As part of its mandate, PCRA is entrusted with the task of creating awareness amongst the masses about the importance, methods and benefits of conserving petroleum products & emission reduction
Started as Oil Conservation Week  in 1991, this nation-wide campaign has eventually become a very effective tool in creating and spreading awareness among the masses about the importance of conservation of petroleum products in the country. Encouraged by tremendous success of the campaign, the duration of OCW was extended to a fortnight from the year 1997, making it Oil Conservation Fortnight . With increasing use of cleaner and eco-friendly gaseous fuels in the country, the conservation of these fuels also became equally important. Therefore, from the year 2004 onwards, this event has observed as "Oil &Gas Conservation Fortnight . Later in the year 2017 OGCF has been renamed to SANRAKSHAN KSHAMTA MAHOTSAV  and is celebrated for a month instead of fifteen days.
Under the aegis of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas , Oil and Gas Conservation mass campaign is being observed from 15th January to 16thFebruary every year by Petroleum Conservation Research Association  and the Oil Industry, to create awareness on efficient use of Petroleum products in the minds of consuming public. Due to pandemic restrictions in the starting of the year, the campaign was rescheduled and now observed from 11th April 2022 to 30th April 2022. The Theme for SAKSHAM 2022 is “ Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav through Green & Clean Energy ”
This one-month awareness campaign is christened as “SAKSHAM 2022” by MoP&NG. Various activities involving educational institutions, house wives, sectors like transport, industry, agriculture were conducted to bring about renewed awareness on the theme of Oil & Gas conservation. Fuel Conservation Themed Cycle Rallies would be organized to emphasize the masses on the need of cycle for better health, environment and fuel conservation. Cycle Rallies witnessed participation from Cycle clubs, environmentalists, NGOs, schools, colleges, corporates etc.
The Campaign in Tamil Nadu would include various events like Public Addresses & Panel Discussions, Auto Emission check, Bi-Cycle Day, Cyclothon, Debates, Free PUC Checks, Fuel Efficiency Drives, Group Talks, Hoardings / Digital Display of Conservation Messages, Cyclothons, Mega Training ,Pollution Checks, Publication of Articles and Conservation Messages, Quiz, Essay, Painting, Article writing and Debate competitions for school and college students, Cooking Without Fire contest, Technical Meet for Industry, Training for LPG delivery boys, Workshops for Engineering Students, etc. The competitions will aim to raise awareness among the school students about practical conservation tips for the conservation of petroleum products in industrial, transport, agriculture and domestic sector, and how to practice such tips in their daily lives.
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